May the Earth Force be with you

This spiral is by my pond

We may as get something straight before I continue.

I am a hippy!

 I am middle aged, married, 2 children, mortgage, job, sensible shoes, no tattoos or piercings and a nice handbag full of useful things like safety pins, painkillers and hand-cream. I'm not veggie. I favour Yorkshire Teabags over Chai.

 But I am a hippy. Always have been, always will be.

It's a bit of a double life. Mostly hidden. Years ago I wisely decided against calling my children Oak and River and opted for under the radar names. (to be fair, hormones probably played a big part in those name choices!)

The tie-dye hasn't ventured out of the attic for many years.  I don't own anything with fringing any more. Our campervan is plain black and has no flower stickers or peace signs anywhere. I haven't attempted to weave anything with lentils recently. Yoga is a fitness choice, rather than a spiritual path.

But none the less I am a hippy. A tree-hugger. A daisy-chain maker. Why, only last May Day I was dancing round a maypole at a Beltane festival, with flowers in my hair.....

I like to be outside as much as possible, I am solar powered. I walk barefoot when practical. (There are at least 3 people who call me as Moonie-Poo-Foot after a reckless barefoot incident in  a festival field which had previously been enthusiastically used by cows.)

 Most of all, I commune with nature.

 I don't wear gardening gloves, I like to FEEL the earth in my hands, to gauge the warmth and soak up the energy of the earth!

 I like to sit with my arse on the warm bark at the allotment and Smell. Listen. Watch. And just Be. (man!)

We all know gardening is supposed to be great for stress relief. It is, I know!

But I recently learned from a friend that there are various health claims for walking barefoot, and apparently even scientific research to back this up.

It's not just plain old walking barefoot. It's called Earthing and relates specifically to walking barefoot outside on soil, grass, sand - any natural surface.

The health benefits come from the relationship between our bodies and the electrons in the earth. The planet has its own natural charge and we humans seem to do better when we're in direct contact with it. studies have found Earthing changes the electrical activity in the brain, and can benefit moderated heart rate, improve glucose regulation, reduce stress and improve immunity. 

Well I can't walk barefoot on my allotment - too many sharp, ouchy things! But I guess there must be similar benefits from plunging my hands into the earth; feeling the connection, hand weeding round those tiny seedlings, crumbling the rich soil between my hands.

And of course, hand picking my own veg on a sunny day!

Rhubarb, rhubarb. . .

So Mother Nature has finally caught up a bit, though temperatures still seem cool for May.

The plot is definitely looking perkier and I'm feeling more confident about getting some good produce this year. There are seedlings and plantlets abounding in the greenhouse and all we Northern gardeners are just waiting for the threat of frosts to disappear. 

If nothing else, we've been enjoying the fruits of my labours <<d'you see what I did there...?>>  - every plot holder's best friend - rhubarb. 

After last time writing about chilis - a vegetable which is actually a fruit, today I'm singing the praises of a fruit which is actually classed as a vegetable....

At a time of year when there's not a huge amount of options to harvest, rhubarb's beautiful  huge leaves  make a corner of your plot look abundant. And oh, the joy of parting those monster leaves to find spears of pinky loveliness, all waiting to be transformed into treats!

OK, by the time you've added enough sugar to stop your cheeks turning inside out with the sourness, there may not be a great deal of nutritional value in rhubarb, but it is such a stalwart, low maintenance, fail-safe crop, easy to grow and with lots of culinary uses. It's also known to be a useful laxative.!

So over the years, we have gorged on crumbles, with residual syrups then frozen to make ice lollies for the children; I have experimented with rhubarb in cake - highly recommended and delicious served warm with cream; I have made rhubarb-infused vodka, to be served with ginger ale as a sort of Yorkshire mule cocktail! 

And this year, my cupboards are now full of beautiful, dark red, ginger and rhubarb jam.

I haven't been caught eating it out of a jar with a spoon. No, no, that must have been someone else.....

jam-tastic!

You can also use the leaves - which are toxic to humans and some animals - as a spray for aphids and other sucking insects, as it suffocates them. 

• Use 1kg of leaves and 2 litres of water.
•  Bring to boil and simmer for around half an hour.
• Strain off leaves
• Dilute to use as a spray.

This does need to be used fairly quickly as its effectiveness apparently wears off if stored.

There's some fab other uses and interesting info about rhubarb on this site, which I stumbled upon while looking up using rhubarb leaves as a hair dye...

http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/other